Translation in the manga

SSj_Rambo · Post by **SSj_Rambo** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 1:11 am

Wow, thought this would be mentioned in the first reply...

The great Herms-sama of Kanzentai is doing an extremely large and meticulous "translation review" of the VIZ release of the manga as compared to the original Japanese release over here: http://db.schuby.org/daizex/viewtopic.php?t=9759

He's currently only up to chapter 5, but he's moving along at a very impressive rate, so keep on eye on that thread. He's basically listing all of the changes and liberties VIZ took, and using his own personal (and very well educated, in both the nature of the story and knowledge of the Japanese language) translations of the original as the reference.

Bussani · Post by **Bussani** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 1:13 am

SSj_Rambo wrote:Wow, thought this would be mentioned in the first reply...

The great Herms-sama of Kanzentai is doing an extremely large and meticulous "translation review" of the VIZ release of the manga as compared to the original Japanese release over here: http://db.schuby.org/daizex/viewtopic.php?t=9759

He's currently only up to chapter 5, but he's moving along at a very impressive rate, so keep on eye on that thread. He's basically listing all of the changes and liberties VIZ took, and using his own personal (and very well educated, in both the nature of the story and knowledge of the Japanese language) translations of the original as the reference.

It was mentioned in the 2nd reply.

But you posted the link, so it's okay.

SSj_Rambo · Post by **SSj_Rambo** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 1:20 am

Bussani wrote:It was mentioned in the 2nd reply. But you posted the link, so it's okay.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Damnit! Now I feel stupid. Oh well, I did post a link... but I didn't even hyperlink a word, I just posted the entire URL!! What a fool, what a fool. Oh well, I hope my link helped somebody.

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 6:45 am

From my experience, VIZ does shove some Americanization into jokes that can't be easily translated from Japanese and there are some other liberties taken, but it's a lot more accurate than the anime dub has ever been.

Post by **Herms** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 3:21 pm

If 10 is an essentially unobtainable standard of perfection, and 9 is Steve Simmons' subtitles, then I'd give Viz's translation a 7 overall. It's as accurate as a regular dub, often taking liberties but still getting the general point across, but much better than Funi's dub.

Oh, and for the record, the original SSJ Goku line that Viz changed to "it's over, Freeza" is "I'm angry, Freeza". I think this one might be an actual mistake rather than a deliberate change, since there's only one hiragana letter of difference between those in Japanese (okotta zo="I'm angry!", owatta zo="It's over!").

Bussani · Post by **Bussani** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 7:55 pm

Herms wrote:If 10 is an essentially unobtainable standard of perfection, and 9 is Steve Simmons' subtitles, then I'd give Viz's translation a 7 overall. It's as accurate as a regular dub, often taking liberties but still getting the general point across, but much better than Funi's dub.

Oh, and for the record, the original SSJ Goku line that Viz changed to "it's over, Freeza" is "I'm angry, Freeza". I think this one might be an actual mistake rather than a deliberate change, since there's only one hiragana letter of difference between those in Japanese (okotta zo="I'm angry!", owatta zo="It's over!").

Interesting. I do like the Japanese line for Goku better. It's simple, not boastful and somehow suits both him and the situation.

Tsukento · Post by **Tsukento** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 9:08 pm

Rocketman wrote:There's two points where they explicitly change the dialogue.

When Vegeta becomes Oozaru, they have Goku say "You killed my grandpa!" and Vegeta laughs "Now THAT is a good one!" as a jab against the line change in the Ocean dub.

I'm preeeetty sure it's more among the lines of Goku thinking...

Big Monkey + Squashed Grampa = VEGETA DUN IT!

NeptuneKai · Post by **NeptuneKai** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 9:16 pm

Tsukento wrote:
Rocketman wrote:There's two points where they explicitly change the dialogue.

When Vegeta becomes Oozaru, they have Goku say "You killed my grandpa!" and Vegeta laughs "Now THAT is a good one!" as a jab against the line change in the Ocean dub.
I'm preeeetty sure it's more among the lines of Goku thinking...

Big Monkey + Squashed Grampa = VEGETA DUN IT!

I'm really glad I'm not the only one who thinks this. It really does sound like a legit Goku line.

Bussani · Post by **Bussani** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 9:40 pm

The full Viz line (counting the page before) is:

"I've heard of Great Apes like you..! You...you killed my grandpa!"

So in context it might sound more like he's blaming Saiyajin as a whole, rather than Vegeta personally. It isn't until he realizes that he must have been able to transform too that he realizes it was him the whole time.

Tsukento · Post by **Tsukento** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 9:53 pm

Don't think he's blaming Saiyans for that. He didn't know what he could transform into on the nights of full moons until Vegeta went ahead and transformed.

The story of giant apes came from Grampa Gohan, so it suggests that Goku's transformed before into a giant ape prior to killing Gohan. Goku sees Vegeta transform and thinks "That's one of those monsters grampa told me about. That musta killed 'I'm!"

To which he then realizes he was the one who did it when Vegeta mentions he could have transformed into what he is as well if he still had his tail.

Bussani · Post by **Bussani** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 10:06 pm

Tsukento wrote:Don't think he's blaming Saiyans for that. He didn't know what he could transform into on the nights of full moons until Vegeta went ahead and transformed.

The story of giant apes came from Grampa Gohan, so it suggests that Goku's transformed before into a giant ape prior to killing Gohan. Goku sees Vegeta transform and thinks "That's one of those monsters grampa told me about. That musta killed 'I'm!"

To which he then realizes he was the one who did it when Vegeta mentions he could have transformed into what he is as well if he still had his tail.

Uh...that's exactly what I meant. Maybe I didn't explain it enough.

Super Sonic · Post by **Super Sonic** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 2:15 am

B wrote:The irony here is that the Dragon Ball anime was dubbed in Texas, which is filled with hicks that could've attempted to pull off Goku's speech pattern.

Perhaps. Though like I mentioned in another thread, would you have wanted English Goku to talk like Cannonball or Hank Hill?

jda95 · Post by **jda95** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 2:23 am

Super Sonic wrote:
B wrote:The irony here is that the Dragon Ball anime was dubbed in Texas, which is filled with hicks that could've attempted to pull off Goku's speech pattern.
Perhaps. Though like I mentioned in another thread, would you have wanted English Goku to talk like Cannonball or Hank Hill?

No. But something that shows he isn't quite sophisticated in his speech patterns would have helped.